Building block and beam and wall structures of same



May 26, 1959 E, L. MCKAY 2,887,869

. BUILDING BLOCK AND BEAM AND WALL STRUCTURES OF' SAME Filed May 28, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 May26,1'959 E. L. MCKAY j 2,887,869

BUILDINGA BLOCK AND BEAM ANDA WALL STRUCTURES OF SAME BY V27/vzw ,1 Tron/viv;

E: L., MGKAY May 26,' 1959 F SAME4 BUILDING BLOCK AND BEAM AND WALL STRUCTURES O Filed May 28, 195s 5 Sheets-Sheet Z5 'Ii-l El V INVENTOR. Eow//v L. MQKAY United States Patent BUILDING BLOCK AND BEAM AND WALL STRUCTURES F SAME Edwin L. McKay, Atlanta, Ga., assgnor to Ray Ferwerda and Koop Ferwerda, Miami, Fla.

Application May 28, 1953, Serial No. 358,104

2 Claims. (Cl. 72-42) This invention relates to improvements in a building block and beams and wall structures made of the same. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved building block having a longitudinally extend-` ing rib on its upper side and having a longitudinally extending recess in the lower side of the block, the recess being of greater depth than the height of the rib so as to provide a mortar space there between two blocks when they are assembled one on top of the other in a beam or wall structure, the side walls of the recess corresponding in shape to the sides of the rib up to the height of the `rib and the sides of the recess above the rib converging inwardly and upwardly at an angle of between forty-five and seventy-five degrees to the vertical and then blending into the at, horizontally extending bottom of the recess with a large radius so as to maintain optimum structural block strength while still providing ample space for one or more reinforcing steel rods in the mortar space with ample room for the mortar to completely surround the reinforcing steel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wall construction formed of the above-mentioned blocks together with hangers supported on the blocks and holding longitudinally extending reinforcing rods supported on the hangers and spaced from the walls of the mortar space, a preferred form of construction providing two parallel reinforcing rods supported on the hangers and approximately equally spaced from the top surface of the horizontal ribs of the blocks and equally spaced from the bottom and sides of the mortar space recess. A further object of the present invention is to provide novel hanger means for supporting reinforcing rods with respect to the building blocks.

A still further object of the invention is to provide beams for use as lintels over doors and windows or other places where beams are needed in building construction, such beams being made up of my novel building blocks tied together with suitable reinforcing so as to provide a very strong but cheap beam structure.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of novel means for anchoring the rst row of blocks to a concrete floor base or footing by prelocated steel U-shaped members which project upwardly from the base or footing so that a longitudinal extending portion thereof is positioned centrally of the lower groove of a course of my improved building blocks positioned over the steel members so as to prevent the blocks from being displaced by lateral thrust or blows and preventing an upward thrust of the wall from the base or footing under the action of a storm or similar forces.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a means of connecting two walls together at an angle when said walls are built out of my improved building blocks described above without the necessity of utilizing a junction block or corner block of any sort.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and descripice tion and the essential features thereof will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a beam constructed from a plurality of my improved building blocks and tied together with reinforcing rods.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. j

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental sectional view similar to the upper portion of Fig. 3 and showing a modified form of hanger hook.

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of a beam similar to Fig. 2 and showing a modified form of hanger for supporting a single reinforcing rod.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a single building block enlarged and showing one of the blocks of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the building block of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental side elevational View of a por tion of a wall utilizing my improved building blocks and showing another modification of the hanger for supporting the reinforcing rods from the building blocks. This view omits the grout.

Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view, exploded, showing a cutout block utilized for tying in a wall extending at an angle to another wall.

Fig. l1 is a transverse sectional view similar to Fig. 9, but showing another modification of a hanger suitable for supporting reinforcing rods.

Fig. 12 is a side elevational view showing my invention as utilized for anchoring the first row of the blocks of a wall to a concrete floor base or footing.

Fig. 13 is a transverse sectional view of the same taken along the line `13-13 of Fig. 12.`

Fig. 14 is a top plan view of steel channels utilized for assembling and casting beams of the type made possible by my invention, while Fig. l5 is a transverse sectional view enlarged taken along the line 15-15 of Fig. 14 and showing in dot-dash lines the position of a course of building blocks on the channel as a beam is being constructed.

Referring first to Figs. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, my invention comprises a novel building block which is here shown as of the general character of a concrete building block such as is commonly used for buildings today.

My improved block has a longitudinally extending rib 20 on its upper side, this rib preferably being of a width only slightly less than the width of the block. For instance, in one form of my invention, the width of the rib at F is approximately six inches while the total width of the block A is approximately eight inches. The top surface of the rib is substantially at and horizontal, but in a preferred form of my invention, I provide a central longitudinally extending groove 21 which, in the same embodiment of my block is approximately two inches wide and one inch deep.

In the lower side of the block, I provide a recess 22 of greater depth than the height of the rib 20, thus providing a mortar space there when two courses of said blocks are assembled one on top of the other as, for instance, as seen in Fig. 9. The side Walls 22a of the recess correspond in shape to the sides of the rib 20a up to the height of the rib when blocks are assembled one upon the other as indicated in dot-dash lines in Fig. 5. These walls 22a and 20a may extend upwardly at a very steep angle preferably between and 90 degrees to the horizontal. The sides 226 of the recess above the rib aes'aeeo height converge inwardly and upwardly at an angle between 45 and 75 degrees to the vertical, about 60 degrees being my preferred form. The bottom of the recess at 22C is generally flat and horizontally extending and the walls 22b blend into the bottom 22e with large radius curves so as to preserve the strength of the building block as much as possible. In the same embodiment of my invention mentioned above, the height of the rib above the side walls of the block, that is: the vertical height of the walls 20a and of the walls 22a is approximately one inch. The complete depth of the recess indicated at 22 and marked B is approximately 2% inches. The hat horizontal extent of the bottom 22C is about 31/2 inches. The dimension C is approximately 6 inches and the dimension D is approximately 4% inches. Other relations shown by the dimensions are as follows: B equals .33A; B equals .647D; E equals 29C; E equals .41D; F equals .75A; and G equals .44A. These dimensions provide a sizable mortar space in the recess 22 between two superposed courses of my improved blocks while at the same time preserving the maximum strength of the building blocks as it is assembled into a completed beam or wall.

For maximum strength of a beam as shown in Fig. l or l0, or of a wall as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, I incorporate longitudinally extending reinforcing rods 23 extending through a plurality of the recesses 22 when a course of blocks is laid end to end. In order to properly locate these reinforcing rods for the maximum beam strength and for maximum life of the reinforcing steel, l provide novel hanger means.

In Figs. 2 and 3 I show a hanger having a hook-shape upper end including a vertical rod 24a having its upper end bent at right angles to provide the hook 24b adapted to rest in one of the grooves 21 of my improved building block. The distal end of the hook is shown in Fig. 3 as being bent downward slightly at 24e so as to space the hook slightly from the bottom of the groove, allowing for grout there7 and so as to better Support the portion 24a in vertical relationship. The lower end of the rod 24a has either integral with it or attached rigidly thereto, as by welding, the generally horizontally extending portion 24d, having oppositely extending branches which are slightly notched downwardly at 24e so as to provide seats for two reinforcing rods 23 extending longitudinally. For maximum beam strength, these hangers 24 are placed one at the end of each block, but otherwise they may be placed only as often as necessary to properly position the reinforcing steel. For instance, in Fig. l, these hangers are shown as placed in every other block.

In order to provide space for extending the hangers 24 downwardly, the blocks are provided with vertically extending grooves 25 at opposite ends of the block and extending from groove 21 downwardly to the recess 22, the grooves 25 being in registration with the grooves 21. If necessary or desirable, an additional groove 26 may be placed centrally of each block and extending from the groove 21 downwardly to the recess 22. With this positioning of the grooves 25 andZ, when the blocks are laid in a wall, the grooves 25 of one course will lie vertically above the groove 26 of the course below, and thus mortar or cement grout may be poured downwardly from the top of the wall and will penetrate to the bottom of the wall lling all of the grooves and recesses.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modification of the hook arrangement 24b and 24C. Here a hook 24 is made by bending the hanger rod so as to form an angle of slightly less than 90 degrees with the vertical portion 24a of tbe hanger. This performs the same function as the portions 24b and 24C of Fig. 3. The rest of the hanger of Fig. 4 may be made as described in Fig. 3.

The hanger shown in Fig. 5 has a vertical stem 24a like that previously described and a hook portion either like that shown in Fig. 3 or Fig. 4 corresponding to the parts 24h, 24C of Fig. 3 or 24' of Fig. 4. The only difference in this hanger is that a single hook 24f is 4 provided at the lower end of the portion 24a to support a single reinforcing rod 23 extending axially of the mortar space 22 of a plurality of blocks.

In Figs. 8 and 9 a different type of hanger is shown composed of a pair of stiff wires 27 twisted together to provide a vertical stem portion and extending laterally away from each other at the lower end of the vertical stem portion to provide la pair of notches or seats 27a for receiving two reinforcing rods 28. A small bar 29 is run through one of the loops of the twisted wires 27 near the top of the straight stern portion and this bar extends horizontally across the space between abutting blocks to rest in the grooves 21 and spanning the openings 25. The hanger 27 supports the two reinforcing rods 28 in approximately the same location in the mortar space 22 as was true in the case of Fig. 2.

If necessary or desirable, the upper ends of the wires 27 may be extended as shown at 27b so as to provide a Y-shape support for another reinforcing rod 30.

A manner of providing vertical reinforcing is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. A vertical reinforcing rod 31 is provided with a T-shape upper end 31a which rests upon a pair of reinforcing rods 28 in one course of blocks and extends downwardly through one or more courses of blocks below it. This gives a vertical reinforcing extending downwardly through the groove 25 in one block and the groove 26 of the block in the next adjacent course.

Still another form of hanger is shown in Fig. ll. Here a short hanger 32 spans one of the grooves 21 and is slightly bent downwardly in the middle to provide a seat at 32a for holding and centering a reinforcing rod 33. This is a simple way of supporting a reinforcing rod and yet it gives a positive spacing of the reinforcing rod in the mortar space 22 and also spaced from the sides of the grooves 21.

In all forms of my hanger devices, it will be noted that the reinforcing rod or rods is held spaced from the walls of the block and preferably these are so arranged that 'there is at least one inch to one and one-half inches of mortar or cement grout between the reinforcing rod and the nearest surface. This gives a maximum strength to the reinforcing and gives protection to the reinforcing rod so that the covering of the rod does not readily spall or crack away, thus exposing the reinforcing rod to the action of rust. In the reinforcing arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 9, each of the reinforcing rods 23 or 28 respectively is approximately equally distant from the top of a rib 20 below the reinforcing rods and from the side walls 221) and ybottom wall 22C of the recess 22 through which the reinforcing rods pass. This gives maximum strength to the beam or wall in which the reinforcing rods lie and gives good protection to the reinforcing rods against rust.

In Fig. l0, I have shown how a very slight change in one of my improved building blocks `will arrange for a partition wall or end wall at a corner to be attached to a side wall without the use of a special junction block or special corner block. All parts except those about to be described are like those already described and have been given similar reference characters. The only difference here is that a notch 34 has been cut through the side wall 22b of a recess, this notch having a width approximately equal to F and a total depth approximately equal to B up to the flat bottom of the notch indicated at 34a. It results from this construction that one of my standard blocks 35 may have its end abutting against the block 36 and reinforcing rods 37 extending through block 35 and other blocks in the same course will lie contiguous to and crossing the reinforcing rods 33 extending through block 36 and other blocks in the same course with it. The rods 37 and 38 may be tied to gether at their crossing points if desired. The angular wall represented by block 35 can thus be firmly tied into the side lwall represented by the block 36 with very little effort. It will be understood that the block 35 has been shown moved away from the block 36 in Fig. 10, merely to illustrated the construction more: clearly.

In Figs. 12 and 13 I have shown my improved method of anchoring the first row of blocks at the lower side of a wall to the concrete floor base or footing. Here the floor base or footing is shown at 39 and a U-shape steel member 40 has its legs turned downwardly and embedded in the footing 39 at 40a. A course of blocks 41 in all respects like the blocks previously described, is laid upon the footing with the rod 40 extending through the recesses 22 of the row of blocks and approximately centered in the recess as clearly shown in Fig. 13. When mortar or cementing grout is poured in through the openings 25 to ill the end to end recesses 22 solidly, the reinforcing rod 40 is firmly bound into the lower course of blocks 41, 41. It results from this construction that the row of blocks 41 at the bottom of the wall are prevented from being displaced by lateral thrust or blows and it prevents an upward thrust of the wall based upon the blocks 41 under the action of a storm or otherwise.

My invention also comprises as a building member, a beam structure made up of 'one or more courses of my reinforced building blocks as herein described. In other words, a single course beam as built up and shown in` Figs. 1 and 2, and preferably with mortar or cement filling the spaces 42 between the abutting ends of blocks, provides an acceptable building beam. Other preferred forms of such beams constructed by me would be formed of two courses as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 or I may even form them with three or more courses, one upon the other. Such beams may be used over building openings, such as: doors, windows, and porches or they may be used as lioor joists, and I have also used them beneath the main walls of a building where my improved beams are placed upon spaced footings and support the entire side wall on the beam. This avoids the cost of foot-ings under the entire side wall.

In constructing the above descnibed beams, it is important that an elongated plane surface be provided as a base. Such a construction is shown in Figs. 14 and 15. A base 42 of concrete vor the like is provided extending the full length of one or more beams. An elongated floor member 43 is provided, the length and width of the beam to be constructed. A preferred form of such floor member is a steel channel as shown having lits web 43a uppermost and having its anges 43h extending downwardly. Cross members 44 in the form of stiff strips of steel are welded to the lower edges of the anges 43b and extend out on opposite sides of the channel. Openings 44a are provided through these strips at opposite ends thereof as indicated in Fig. 15 and bolts 45 fixed in the concrete base extend upwardly through each of the holes 44a. Nuts 46 are threaded on the bolts above and below each strip 44 and serve to positively position each end of the strip relative to the base 42. It results from this construction that a steel channel which always has some warped condition as received, may be adjusted by means of the bolts 4S and nuts 46 along the entire length thereof upwardly or downwardly at each spaced strip 44 so that the upper surface of the web 43a finally lies in a single plane along the entire length of the beam.

What I claim is:

1. Wall construction comprising superposed similar building blocks, each block having a longitudinally extending rib on its upper side, said rib being of a width only slightly less than the width of the block and having a substantially flat horizontal top surface, there being a longitudinally extending recess in the lower side of each block, said recess being of greater depth than the height of said rib and providing in block assembled position a laterally enclosed mortar space between said blocks, the side walls of said recess corresponding in shape to the sides of said rib for the height of said rib to t therein in block assembled position, the sides of said recess above said rib height converging inwardly and upwardly at an angle between 45 degrees and 75 degrees to the vertical, the bottom of said recess being flat and horizontally extending, hangers supported on said blocks, parallel longitudinally extending reinforcing rods supported solely by said hangers in said mortar space approximately equally spaced from said rib horizontal top surface and from said bottom and sides of said recess at a suiiicient distance for mortar to surround each rod, and means communicating down through said blocks to said mortar space.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein a vertical groove extends downwardly through each block from said top surface to said recess, and said hangers rest upon said top surface to be secured in the mortar space thereat and extend down through and are completely enclosed by said grooves, whereby mortar poured downwardly through the grooves in the assembled blocks lls said grooves and mortar space and surrounds said reinforcing rods and hangers to provide a reinforced block wall construction with mortar protected reinforcing rods.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 856,615 Aiello June 11, 1907 1,158,197 Francis Oct. 26, 1915 1,165,475 Werkenthin Dec. 28, 1915 1,227,418 Francis May 22, 1917 1,240,137 Hartman Sept. 11, 1917 1,379,625 Hartman May 31, 1921 1,900,457 Miller Mar. 7, 1933 1,970,414 Brown Aug. 14, 1934 2,240,016 Pinney Apr. 29, 1941 2,241,169 Yokes May 6, 1941 2,413,990 Muntz Jan. 7, 1947 2,535,100 Sourwine Dec. 26, 1950 2,655,032 Zagray Oct. 13, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 17,775 Great Britain of 1912 136,257 Great Britain Dec. 11, 1919 685,157 Great Britain Dec. 31, 1952 402,971 France Sept. 13, 1909 601,207 France Nov. 26, 1925 987,167 France Apr. 11, 1951 

